Apple’s Ad Agency Names New Creative Leaders on iPhone and Apple Services

Geoff Edwards and Chuck Monn were recently promoted to executive creative directors in MAL’s Los Angeles headquarters. Both report to chief creative officer Brent Anderson, and their promotions mark the most significant change in the creative department since Anderson’s own promotion in October 2016.

Anderson succeeded Duncan Milner, who held the role since the agency’s inception and now works at purpose marketing division MAL\For Good.

Edwards will oversee creative for Apple Services including Apple TV+, Apple Music and Apple Pay while Monn leads the work promoting its client’s most valuable product, the iPhone. Both are veterans of the TBWA organization.

“Nothing is more important and thrilling than giving growth opportunities to those who have earned it through their leadership, vision and work. Chuck has done just that,” Anderson said in a statement. “He is a natural leader, a proven talent and one who will drive the kind of iconic work worthy of the world’s most iconic brand.”

The CCO continued, “Geoff brings a unique blend of perspectives across both advertising and entertainment as well as a pedigree of amazing work, passion and impeccable taste. Also, he’s just a great human being—exactly the mix that will further elevate the creative leadership at MAL and set the bar for what we create and how we create it.”

Edwards most recently served as ecd in R/GA’s LA office, where he worked on accounts such as Nike, Disney and PepsiCo. He previously spent three years leading creative at LA’s Creative Arts Agency and spent two stints at TBWA\Chiat\Day as an art director and group creative director in the early ’90s and mid-’00s, respectively. In addition to those and other roles at DDB and Publicis, he co-founded the agencies Spike DDB, Dojo and T.A.G., which is now part of McCann.

In 2016, he and three other prominent black creative directors also launched Saturday Morning, a group dedicated to facilitating conversations about “how we can help change the perception that black lives are not as important as others.”

Regarding his new job, Edwards said, “When you get a call from Brent Anderson to work on the best brand in the world, in the house that Lee Clow and Steve Jobs built, the decision is easy.”

Monn has spent the past 20-plus years with TBWA, starting as an art director in 1998 and moving to MAL one year after chairman Lee Clow officially opened it in 2006. Since then he has helped lead some of the most popular campaigns promoting the Mac, iPad and iPhone, including Adweek’s Campaign of the Decade “Get a Mac (Mac vs. PC),” “Shot on iPhone World Gallery,” and the recent effort “Behind the Mac.”

His work has received more than 50 industry awards, including a Grand Prix at Cannes and a Gold Pencil at the One Show.

“I’m humbled to take on this new, elevated role within the agency, and the amazing opportunity to further Apple’s mission,” Monn said.

Adweek named TBWA Global Agency of the Year for 2018. Media Arts Lab also received a Global Effie and three Grand Prix awards at Cannes for its Apple work, and Cannes recently named the client as 2019 Creative Marketer of the Year.